DeathSpank: Origins

Ever wonder where DeathSpank got his name? Darren Evenson, Lead Designer at Hothead, gives us a few clues into DeathSpank's origin...

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GT: What is the origin of DeathSpank's name?

DE: "DeathSpank" was dreamed up by Ron as the sort of ridiculous
character that was seen as flooding the game industry. DeathSpank was a mockery
of all the hyper-manly characters running around these days. Fortunately, he
took on a life of his own and refused to go away. He was a little joke that
turned into a game design, and eventually into the awesome game you see today!

GT: What were some of your sources of inspiration when designing the
DeathSpank character? And for the game itself?

DE: Well beside Monkey Island comics like The Goon, great TV shows
like Arrested Development and Scrubs played surprising roles in building the
tone that we wanted for DeathSpank and the tone of the game itself. Building
tone and a characters voice is an arduous process for any writer, no matter
where you work but once it's built you can start churning out dialog like mad.
As far as game inspirations, Diablo was a huge influence of course, but games
like Animal Crossing played a surprising role in the world construction.

GT: Who's your favorite character in the game? Besides DeathSpank, of
course...

DE: That's easy, Eubrick a.k.a. Sally the Stable Girl. As soon as we saw
Eubrick with his mighty axe lodged firmly in his back we knew who he was and
what his voice would be like. We gave him tons of dialogue just because we liked
him so much. It doesn't always make sense, but you have to listen to all of it.